Persimmon and Barratt qualify for £400m HomeBuy Direct scheme

Housebuilding giants lead list of 130 firms to gain help from government shared ownership initiative

Persimmon and Barratt have led the list of winning builders qualifying for sales help from the government's £400m HomeBuy Direct scheme.

Details published by the government today shows that the two builders have gained by far the most sites to qualify for the scheme, with Persimmon taking over a fifth of all the allocated sites.

In total, homes from 130 builders across 1,000 sites will qualify for help from the shared ownership scheme, which will see the government and builders each put up 15% of the value of a new home to act as a deposit on house purchase.

The government and builders then take their share of the profits if there is any increase in value of the property.

In total, the government accredited 205 Persimmon sites for help from the scheme, with Barratt getting 136 to qualify. Bellway was the next most successful, with 93 sites qualifying for the scheme.

Overall, the top six house builders have over half of the sites allocated under the scheme, with 520 qualifying. The initiative, which was launched yesterday at a cost of £400m to the public purse - £100m more than originally intended - was worked up by the government in conjunction with the Home Builders' Federation, which represents the larger housebuilders.

The list of 130 successful bidders includes all the major builders as well as a number of registered social landlords.